The Beauty and Simplicity of Training with Attraction

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PaintingHorse.com, my website for horses that paint on canvas with brushes in their mouths, has expanded to include canines! Here is short video of my dog Trixie painting her very first painting on canvas board.

She has developed her own unique and dramatic stroke style perhaps endowed by her terrier genetics to grasp hold of small (usually fast moving critters) objects and shake them into submission.

If you’re feeling at all discouraged, this music video is guaranteed to warm your heart and cause you to hug the nearest being with a heartbeat.

In my humble opinion, it clearly shows the awesome power of positive reinforcement (force-free, pressure-free, creating an atmosphere where folks can feel good way of relating) in a world desperate for some new energy.

I’ve seen the power of this new energy transform even the most difficult of beasts. This video shows the ultimate transformation.

Here’s a video showing exactly why I’m in favor of force-free, pressure-free, joyful, attraction-based interaction that feels good for both horse and human.

Note the angry face on human. Note the angry response from the horse. I think it’s safe to assume most horses don’t like pushing, jabbing, shoving, smacking gestures as means of communication. And here we have a horse that took the bull by the horns, or the human by the hair and said, enough.

I lump this video into the category of “Don’t Give Your Horse a Reason for Bad Behavior.”

It’s my sincere hope that there were no injuries and this young force-full horse handler may experience the beauty and simplicity of attraction-based work with horses. I have a sneaking feeling she’ll be a fan of helmets.

Here’s a look at my present experiment: Starting a horse using mostly attraction.

All of these video clips were shot on our third ride. The first two rides looked exactly the same. I put the videos in the basic order of the sequence that they were taught. My goal was to create in Raleigh’s mind a wonderful first and lasting impression of what it would be like to carry a rider. Continue reading →

The Fine Print

All of the material on the pages of this weblog, I Feel Good, My Horse Feels Good, is copyrighted. This protection includes but is not limited to the articles, photographs, video and Horse Pucky cartoons. All rights are reserved.

If you’d like to use some of my blog’s content for personal use, feel free. If it’s for reproduction, please ask first. If it’s for professional or commercial reproduction, definitely ask first, along with buying my horses some hay.

As with all things equine and their inherent risks of potential for injury to horse and human, the exercises and examples of the things I do with my horses fall into the category, Try at your own risk. I cannot assume responsibility, and neither can my horses.